New and Notable

Join the Wave! RBC Celebrates 2nd Annual Blue Water Day

Water is RBC’s global environmental cause and we have committed $50 million over ten years to help protect freshwater through the RBC Blue Water Project. To celebrate the second annual RBC Blue Water Day on June 10, we’ve launched ‘Join the Wave’, a public campaign to create the world’s biggest virtual wave of support for water. Taking place in a virtual sports stadium that we’ve created on Facebook, we invite you to Join the Wave by uploading your photo onto an avatar in the Stadium. For every seat filled, RBC will donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund, up to $100,000. Invite your friends and family to Join the Wave and support water related causes.

Responsible Procurement, a New Normal

It has been 6 months since RBC introduced a new enterprise-wide Responsible Procurement Policy, and more than $59 million in procurement contracts have been screened by the new process. The RBC Responsible Procurement Policy requires our procurement managers to assess potential suppliers' environmental management, health and safety, environmental action plans, third party certifications, history of compliance, NGO relationships, impacts on indigenous communities, and labour standards. In certain cases, the policy also requires category-specific environmental screening, which may include a review of the environmental

benefits and lifecycle impacts of a product. Since January, more than 60 Procurement staff have participated in training sessions on how to apply the new policy. Visit Responsible Procurement for more information.

Our FSC Paper Use Surpasses 80 percent

Responsible procurement practices have transformed RBC’s paper supply, so that over 80 percent is now sourced from forests, and pulp and paper mills certified to the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) standard. FSC paper comes from responsibly managed forests, and the FSC certification ensures wood harvesting and pulp and paper operations are audited against a rigorous set of environmental and social criteria. An additional 2 percent of our paper is sustainably sourced and certified to other global standards. For more details on RBC’s paper use, reduction

Protecting our Clients from Environmental Risks

In the competitive world of property finance, there has always been a balance between conducting the right levels of property due diligence and containing costs associated with environmental site assessments. Too little due diligence may expose our clients to significant financial risks associated with unidentified property contamination issues, while overly onerous requirements might be cost prohibitive. RBC has partnered with Environmental Data Resources (EDR) to provide online

environmental risk assessments for US properties that may otherwise have not received adequate due diligence. It is an efficient and cost-effective way to uncover environmental issues like leaking underground storage tanks, landfills, or the existence of former high-risk operations. To date, we have trained over 500 employees on this value-added service. To learn more, visit RBC’s environmental risk management policies.

Video: Financing a Brownfield

Brownfields are underused or abandoned industrial or commercial properties that are contaminated or believed to be contaminated, making their use or redevelopment complicated and sometimes expensive. Many brownfield sites sit unused for decades because the cost to remediate the land may be more than the land would be worth even if remediated. Canada has approximately 30,000 brownfield sites, and without redevelopment, these sites can have a negative impact on the environment and surrounding community. Gain insights on

Employee Engagement Key to Improving Environmental Performance

A new report by the North American Task Force of the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) sheds light on the benefits of employee environmental engagement including attracting and retaining top talent, enhancing corporate reputation, cost savings and environmental footprint reductions. Results are based on survey responses by 20 UNEP FI North American members. The report explores what gains can be realized through an engaged workforce on environmental issues, and presents a number of case studies, challenges and best practices. To read the report, visit: If you ask us…Making environmental employee engagement happen.

RBC and Fulbright Canada Establish Eco-Leadership Program

RBC has just announced a five year, $500,000 commitment to establish the Fulbright Canada-RBC Eco-Leadership Program. The Eco-Leadership Program offers micro-grants to qualifying Fulbright students, scholars or alumni who wish to pursue a project, activity or event that will have a beneficial impact on the environment. This year, 13 outstanding Fulbrighters have been provided with Fulbright Canada-RBC Eco-Leadership grants. RBC will also support the exchange of two Fulbright graduate students who will be conducting water-related studies at the University of British Columbia and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

Fulbright Scholarships support the best and brightest university students and faculty members from Canada and the United States to cross the 49th parallel on exchange to conduct research, teach, and actively engage in the community of the host country.